Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm
The corporate governance environment has changed. The rate of CEO successions is naturally trending up, succession planning is in dire need of repair, and boards are under increasing pressure to focus on oversight. This confluence of events creates a 'perfect storm.' Within this new environment, interim successions are on the rise. But is it all bad news? This article explores the decision of corporate directors to use temporary chief executive officers (CEOs) and the roles served by these interim leaders. We include a typology of interim CEOs and prescribe the contexts in which organizations can strategically pursue this type of succession. We conclude with a list of recommendations for how boards can most effectively manage interim leadership in the new corporate governance environment.
Authors :: Christine H. Mooney, Matthew Semadeni, Idalene F. Kesner
Swot Analysis of "Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm" written by Christine H. Mooney, Matthew Semadeni, Idalene F. Kesner includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Interim Successions facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Strategic planning, Succession planning and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing commodity prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, technology disruption, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Interim Successions, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Interim Successions operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Interim Successions
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Interim Successions
Strengths Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Interim Successions in Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Strong track record of project management
– Interim Successions is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Organizational Resilience of Interim Successions
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Interim Successions does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Learning organization
- Interim Successions is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Interim Successions is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Interim Successions has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Interim Successions has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Interim Successions is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Interim Successions in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Interim Successions digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Interim Successions has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Interim Successions are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Interim Successions is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Interim Successions has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Interim Successions in the sector have low bargaining power. Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Interim Successions to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Interim Successions has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Weaknesses Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Interim Successions has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Interim Successions is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Interim Successions needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm, is just above the industry average. Interim Successions needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Interim Successions has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Interim Successions is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Interim Successions needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Interim Successions to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Interim Successions is planning to shift buying processes online.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Interim Successions 's lucrative customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Interim Successions has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Interim Successions, firm in the HBR case study Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Interim Successions has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Interim Successions to increase its market reach. Interim Successions will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Interim Successions has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Interim Successions to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Loyalty marketing
– Interim Successions has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Interim Successions can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Interim Successions can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Interim Successions can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Interim Successions can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Interim Successions can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Interim Successions can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Interim Successions in the consumer business. Now Interim Successions can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Interim Successions has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Interim Successions to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm case study. Interim Successions can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Buying journey improvements
– Interim Successions can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Interim Successions to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Interim Successions can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Interim Successions operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Threats Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm are -
Environmental challenges
– Interim Successions needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Interim Successions can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Interim Successions has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Interim Successions needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Leadership & Managing People sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Interim Successions is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Interim Successions business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm, Interim Successions may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Interim Successions can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm .
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Interim Successions can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing wage structure of Interim Successions
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Interim Successions.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Interim Successions in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Interim Successions needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Interim Successions demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Interim Succession: Temporary Leadership in the Midst of the Perfect Storm is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Interim Successions needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.